Denial to Acceptance on MSE

Davesnave

The way I see it, nobody can contribute unbiased opinions on this board. If you want to sell (your house, your mortgage advising services, etc) or make a profit from housing (BTL, etc) then you're going to be a bit bullish in the current climate. If you want to buy, like me and a host of others on here, then you're going to be bearish.

Hurrah, reasoned argument with no personal asides; a rare thing on this board, at times. I agree with most of it, except that the above quote doesn't explain how those who are selling and buying again fit in. Sounds like they're likely to become schizophrenic!

From a personal perspective, jibes don't interest or bother me. If it gets a bit heated I might read it, but I'd walk away from posting. Perhaps it's years of playground experience, but if I see a couple of you having a scrap and it seems evenly matched, or if someone's definitely asked for it, I just look the other way. It's a different matter if someone new comes on, asks for advice and is told they've been a right plonker and that they're financially doomed, as happened on another thread yesterday. Then, I might pitch in.

As someone who, before 2002, took no serious interest in economics or the ins and out of property purchase, I've found this board extremely useful, though I came to it a bit late for my own purposes. Without it, I don't think I'd understand the current situation half as well; it certainly works in a more entertaining way than dry news articles. Reading others' tales of woe is also therapeutic, as one soon realises there are people worse off etc etc...

There are some folk on here who sound bitter. I could be bitter too, for reasons I won't go into, but I have to take some responsibilty for my situation. We all have choices and, as the philosopher A C Grayling said last week on 'Desert Island Discs,' we only have about 1000 months on average to do whatever we're going to do, so there's no point wallowing in regret over what's done, just use experience to inform today's choices.

SingleSue

But there are some of us who have no vested interest in the market yet still post here.

I don't own a home and don't want to own my own home (unless I win the lottery and can buy outright! In which case, I wouldn't care what the market was doing). Yes my parents do own a home which will, in time, be passed down to me and my siblings but I don't even see that as counting as I keep saying they should just sell up and enjoy the money rather than worrying about us (they have been mortgage free since 1974 having purchased in 1969 and seen their original £2600 purchase go up up down down up up down down up up up and at the moment static).

We were one of the silly ones in the early 90's who took the plunge and got on the ladder...only to fall off it just over 4 years later due to illness. We were one of those described where personal circumstances meant that negative equity seriously put the kibosh on our lives.

We purchased at the time when prices had already fallen a fair amount and thought we had got in at the bottom of the market, unfortunately we hadn't. Prices continued to go down and our house when it did finally sell was around half of what we paid for it and a third of the price that the people who we bought from had paid 2 years before us (hence the reason we thought the market bottom had been reached). It didn't regain our purchase price until a good 5-6 years after we fell off the ladder but once it did, it then went throught the roof....that very same house came on the market last year for 5 times the price it had been sold for after us.

If any of my children were currently of an age to be able to buy property, right now I would be advising caution as FTB's. For people like my parents, they have no worries as the equity in their house is theirs free and clear and they have built up a sizeable amount of equity through the various booms and busts over the years (they were sensible ones, never MEW'ed or took out loans secured on the property, even though at times, they desperately needed some cash) so any money over their original purchase is profit pure and simple and they have never counted what their property COULD be worth into their financial figures.

In their eyes, they have gained even if the market fell another 10%, 15% or none at all.

Not that they care though, their house is their home and not a money vehicle.